Bats: A World of Science and Mystery – Brock Fenton

By en:Don Pfritzer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Presentation: Bats: A World of Science and Mystery

There are more than 1,300 species of bats—or almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species. But before you shrink in fear from these furry creatures, consider the bat’s fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat can eat several thousand insects in a night. Bats also pollinate and disperse the seeds for many of the plants we love, from bananas to mangoes and figs.

Presenter: Brock Fenton

Currently an Emeritus Professor of Biology at Western University, Brock Fenton is an acclaimed expert on bats. He has studied their ecology and biology all over the world, including Costa Rica, Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He continues his research on the ecology and behaviour of bats, with special emphasis on echolocation and evolution.

One of his subjects, the Pallid Bat (Antrozous pallidus) is among British Columbia’s most endangered and rarest mammals.

In addition to his bat studies, Fenton has provided leadership in the teaching of biology and science.

He also works to increase public awareness of science through lectures, visits to public schools (often with graduate students), workshops for teachers, and popular writing in magazines and electronic media.

He has written four books about bats intended for a general audience (Just bats 1983, University of Toronto Press; Bats 1992 – revised edition 2001 Facts On File Inc; and The bat: wings in the night sky 1998, Key Porter Press; Fenton and Simmons 2015 Bats: a world of science and mystery University of Chicago press).

In 2014, Brock Fenton was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).